We were all shocked and saddened by the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans by a “home grown” ISIS inspired Islamic terrorist. This evil and cowardly act killed 14 people and injured dozens of others in the early hours of January 1. What should have been a day of revelry turned into days of shock, anger, pain, and questions. All decent human beings were appalled by such evil disregard for innocent human life. This was truly a hate-filled act of terror and an assault against our nation.
The killing of these 14 people sadly accomplished what the terrorist, Shamsud-Dim Jabbar of Houston, intended. In his social media posts he proclaimed his allegiance to ISIS and stated his desire to draw media attention to the war between “believers and disbelievers” in Islam. How different this is from the Christmas message of “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace to people of good will!” (Lk 2:14).
This terrible mass killing calls us to reflect on how precious and sacred life is. Yet, as horrible as the war of Islamic inspired terrorism is, we should not lose context. In 2024 there were 20 mass shooting incidents in the United States killing 73 people and wounding another 143. Daily, in the United States in 2024, there was an average of 52 murders. Every day in the United States there were 136 suicides. Every day in the United States in 2024 there was an average of 300 drug overdoses. Every day in the United States in 2024 there was an average of 2,700 abortions! Each and every one of these deaths was preventable. Each and every one of these persons should still be alive. More babies are killed by abortion in a year in the U.S. than all the deaths from the Covid pandemic. Please note that this is AFTER the Dobbs Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe v. Wade! While Islamic terrorism is undeniably evil and has killed millions around the globe, our society and culture has taken the lives of far more Americans.
Just as we must fight to eradicate ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Queda, we must also confront and transform the “Culture of Death” that is destroying Western Society at a far more rapid rate and with greater “success”. The crisis we face is not merely a crisis of lethal acts. It is also a crisis of thinking and belief. Our cultural thinking has been corrupted just as surely as ISIS has corrupted the thinking of its followers. If we wish to stop mass shootings, murders, drug deaths, suicides and abortion, we must change our cultural thinking about human life. We must cherish life. We must esteem human life. We must protect and respect life. When we so easily tolerate the killing of innocent children in the womb, when we denigrate marriage and parenthood, when we extol immorality of every kind, can we be shocked at the results? If society does not respect life in the womb, why should we respect life outside the womb? As Americans we cherish freedom. But what about the common good? What about the true good? What about the moral good? We have compromised the good and traded it for the convenient. We have placed our individual autonomy and “choice” over the good of others and even our own true good.
We have a crisis in America, not just at the border but within our borders. When marriage rates are at historical lows and the birthrate is below replacement sustainability, life is not cherished. When loneliness is at epidemic levels impacting tens of millions, life is not cherished. When marriage and family are distained, life is not cherished. When homelessness is widespread, tolerated and accepted, life is not cherished. When crime of every sort is widespread and criminals are not brought to justice, life is not cherished. When immorality is celebrated and exalted, life is not cherished. Our free society can only prosper when we have a society of virtuous people. To change behavior, we must change our way of thinking.